Nansemond River Takes Baseball Title

Warriors Edge Tabb 2-1 In Final

YORK — The two best baseball teams in the Bay Rivers District lived up to their billing in a tense tournament championship game Friday night at York High.

An especially gutty performance by pitcher Brian Elms enabled second seed Nansemond River to edge regular-season champion Tabb 2-1 for the title.

Elms, who had only pitched two innings since April 28 because of a wrist injury, went the distance in a duel with previously unbeaten Nate Lienard of the Tigers.

Elms escaped a bases-loaded threat in the bottom of the seventh inning, getting a called third strike on Justin Martin to end the game after falling behind in the count 3-0.

``I was very surprised he took the pitch,'' a relieved Elms said. ``In that situation I threw a fastball down the middle hoping he would put it in play where we could get an out.

``I started to get tired in the fifth inning and went to my changeup a lot more trying to keep them off balance. My curveball helped make my fastball more effective. My hat is off to Tabb. They're a great team. The defense really did a great job behind me.''

Both teams advance to the Region I Tournament which opens Tuesday. Tabb (16-3) plays a home game against Greensville County, the No. 2 seed from the Southside District, at 4 p.m.

Nansemond River (17-3) plays at Matoaca, the No. 1 Southside seed, at a yet to be determined time.

It was the Warriors' second consecutive 2-1 tournament victory. And they came from behind with a two-run inning just like they did Thursday night against York.

Elms opened the decisive rally in the fourth with a walk. He went to third on Brett Craun's single and scored on an opposite-field single by Duke Jones. Jeff Church's two-out double, also to the opposite field, scored what proved to be the winning run.

``I wasn't surprised at how well Elms did after seeing him pitch effectively against us in a game last year,'' Tabb coach Doug Baggett said. ``I thought Nate pitched very well for us. He had that one bad inning, but he kept the ball down and moved it around well.

``We moved the ball offensively, but just couldn't get any timely hits.''

Tabb stranded 11 runners. It's lone run, in the second inning, was unearned. Jamie Cook scored from third base when Nansemond River first baseman Jeff Eure couldn't handle catcher Jones' throw after the ball eluded him on a swinging third strike by Joe Martin.

Nansemond River's strategy of intentionally walking leading Tabb hitter Nate Arland (.469), with the potential tying run in scoring position was successful in both the fifth and seventh innings.

In the fifth, after walking Arland, Elms retired Rashard Dacus on a flyball to end the inning with runners on first and second.

The strategy almost backfired in the seventh when Elms walked Dacus to load the bases.

``It was my decision to walk Arland the second time,'' Elms said. ``He is such a good hitter and we had had our way with Dacus his three other times up.''